With the primary election coming Aug. 8, three of the six Republican candidates for the 5th Congressional District seat visited the Westside last weekend. These were
Jeff Crank, in a one-hour appearance July 29 at Fanz Sports Bar & Grill; and Gen. Bentley Rayburn and Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera at the Westside
Picnic and Block Party July 30 at Bancroft Park.
Asked about the Westside Highway 24 expansion, the candidates responded as follows:
Crank - He said he has “some concern about what it would do to the area,” in term of displacing homes and businesses. He also noted that it's not
currently on the top-priority list of the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments (PPACG), and properly so.
Rivera - “It's a little bit too big, and we don't have money for it” he said. “We should scale it down to something more practical that we can afford.” He also
called for “opening up the public process. We want to make sure the residents have a say in the process.”
Rayburn - (Had not yet responded to e-mail request at Pioneer deadline.)